Connecting and FTP Uploading to Sites Hosted by GoDaddy

15th of January, 2013

This article covers FTP connection problems with sites hosted on GoDaddy servers. If you are experiencing problems with a form created using the PHP Feedback Form Action, see the article at http://www.softpress.com/kb/questions/257/ (Common problems #4).

Freeway's upload function will work with all hosts that offer FTP uploads - but here in Software Support we receive more queries on uploading to GoDaddy-hosted sites than any other. This is not a Freeway issue - as most GoDaddy customers upload successfully - so it may be related to a lack of information or misunderstandings with GoDaddy's documentation sent out to new customers.

GoDaddy offer a page on the Help Center section of their website at http://help.godaddy.com/article/96 which has a link to a video giving instructions on setting up the server so it is ready to upload files to.

The video states that when you enter your domain name in a browser, you should see a page with "This Web site is coming soon" heading at the top - if you don't see that, you will need to update your domain name's nameservers. See their Help Center page at http://help.godaddy.com/article/664?locale=en for more details or contact GoDaddy Support.

The video shows how to upload using FileZilla - but there is no reason why you can't use Freeway to upload the files without leaving the application. Because each host uses slightly different naming conventions for each of the steps required to log on successfully to sites hosted on their servers, we will explain what you need to enter for GoDaddy uploads.

In the GoDaddy FTP video they state that you need to have three pieces of information to hand - the "domain name", your "user name" and your "password". In the screenshot below, you can see Freeway's FTP Upload dialog - so we can explain what needs to be used in each field.

Server: This is where you need to enter your "domain name" (ie, www.mysite.com). GoDaddy may have given you an FTP server address in the form of a set of numbers - if you can't upload using that address in the Server field, try using your domain name instead.

Port: This should work fine if you leave it blank. GoDaddy suggest that you use a port number of 21, so try using 21 in the Port field if you have problems connecting.

Directory: According to GoDaddy's Help Center articles, this field should be left blank. By leaving it blank, the files will be uploaded to the base level of the server. However, the solution to one GoDaddy customer's log-in and upload problems was to use the main part of the domain name in here - for example, if the domain name is www.mygreatsite.com, use mygreatsite in the Directory field. We suggest you try it first with the field left blank and then, if you have problems, try using the main part of the domain name to see if that makes it work. Without knowing GoDaddy's specific policies, it might be that you only need info to be entered here if you have multiple domains hosted on the same server.

User name: GoDaddy also call this "User name" and it is the name you used when you set up the hosting account. If you don't know your GoDaddy user name, go to http://help.godaddy.com/article/4881 for more info.

Password: As the name suggests, this is the password used when the hosting account was set up. If you have forgotten your GoDaddy password, go to http://help.godaddy.com/article/6.

Web Address: By default, this is blank and can be left blank. However, some Freeway Actions (such as the Site Mapper Action) require that you enter the URL of your web site so the Action can use that address in the code it writes - so if you have entered a web address in the File>Document Setup dialog's Upload field, this address will appear in the Web Address field of the Upload dialog.

FTP Mode: We recommend that you leave the FTP Mode popup set to Automatic - this will interrogate the server and should choose the correct mode when logging onto the GoDaddy server. If you have problems with logging on, try choosing Passive in the popup and trying again.

Script: You will only need to use this if you have been given a dedicate script to upload (which is rarely used).

Save log: Leave this unchecked unless you have contacted Softpress Support and we ask you to switch it on. If you are experiencing problems with uploading to GoDaddy, we may ask you to switch this option on so you can send us your FTP log (to see if it gives us information on why the upload has failed). We will tell you where to find the log when we ask you to save it. Leave this unchecked unless you have been asked to switch it on.

If you have problems after trying the above suggestions, please contact Softpress Support at http://www.softpress.com/kb/contact.php. Note, however, that we can only properly troubleshoot the problem if you send us all your FTP details (including your password). We appreciate that this is not a normal request, but without it we cannot log on to your server to test what information you need to use to connect and upload using Freeway. If you believe this compromises your security, you can always change your password afterwards by following the steps at http://help.godaddy.com/article/6.